Blog Archives

We left the Emeryville station just after 9 am and headed east towards Denver. After some breakfast and checking out the train we had presentations from some of the mentors who boarded with us in San Francisco.

Eric Kessler of Arabella Advisors

Eric spoke to us about his experiences traveling through Russia, working for the Clinton administration, and now in running his consulting firm Arabella Advisors which advises philanthropists on how to best invest their dollars in non-profts.

It was great to hear Eric talk about the book, The Lean Startup, and applying “lean” principals to philanthropy. If you are interested in entrepreneurship or growing a nonprofit – I highly recommend the book.

Mike Zuckerman

Mike Zuckerman is one of the minds behind [free space] in San Francisco. He joined us on the train and during our stop in Denver.

I’m really glad Mike joined us for the trip – he has been a part of some incredible projects, including [free space] that focus on building communities – including the National Day of Civic Hacking which occurred earlier this summer.

Mike talked about the some of the folks who have influenced him – Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia and Ray Oldenburg who authored the book about the third place.

Mike talked about the importance of leading with culture to engage others in a cause. He also discussed some examples of civic hacking, one example that he used and that we have participated in Pittsburgh is (Park)ing Day – an annual event where citizens and businesses convert parking spaces into parks.

Mike also talked about the importance of having spaces where people can come together to share ideas, innovate and be creative.

Mike’s talk made me think of some spaces and organizations that are working on bringing people together in creative ways in Pittsburgh:

WaffleShop - the WaffleShop is no longer open but there are tons of video on the site and this was a great example of a community space in Pittsburgh